British govt warns superbug epidemic could wipe out 80,000

Two plates which were coated with an antibiotic-resistant bacteria called Klebsiella with a mutation called NDM 1 and then exposed to various antibiotics are seen at the Health Protection Agency in north London (Reuters/Suzanne Plunkett) / Reuters

A new generation of superbugs that are resistant to antibiotics could eventually kill tens of thousands of people, with many of the deaths related to illnesses as common as the flu or routine surgery, a new government report warns.

Medical professionals are increasingly concerned about new
strains of bacteria and viruses that are categorized as
antimicrobial resistance (AMR), which render obsolete many
antibiotics and antiviral medications largely taken for granted
today in hospitals and medical facilities worldwide.

Up to 80,000 people in Britain could perish in the event of a
superbug outbreak, while an even higher amount of deaths could
occur from other forms of antimicrobial resistant infection,
according to data contained in the National Risk Register of
Civil Emergencies report, which was compiled by the Cabinet
Office.

“The numbers of infections complicated by AMR are expected to
increase markedly over the next 20 years. If a widespread
outbreak were to occur, we could expect around 200,000 people to
be affected by a bacterial blood infection that could not be
treated effectively with existing drugs, and around 80,000 of
these people might die,” it said.

According to the document, in the event of drug resistant
pathogens, “even minor surgery and routine operations could
become high-risk procedures, leading to increased duration of
illness and ultimately premature mortality.” Such a
development would be a real setback for modern medicine, as
medical breakthroughs (the report specifically mentioned organ
transplantation, bowel surgery and some cancer treatments) may
become unsafe due to the risk of infection.

In a separate section, the rise of influenza pandemics – such as
SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome), which broke out in Asia
in 2002 and posed a global health threat - were predicted to
become “more serious” without effective medication and
treatment.

One of the very disturbing possible consequences of such a
pandemic is that “half the UK population [could] potentially
[be] infected, with between 20,000 and 750,000 additional deaths
potentially by its end,” it said.

UK Prime Minister David Cameron said last July that the rise of
superbugs could see the medical community and those who depend on
it for treatment “cast back into the dark ages of
medicine.”

Super bugs are already responsible for the death of some 50,000
people a year in the United States and Europe, the report
revealed. Meanwhile, medical officials have warned that one
strain of E.coli (potentially deadly bacteria found in the
environment, foods, and intestines of people and animals), is no
longer controllable by drugs.

The report echoes the findings by Jim O’Neill, who was appointed
last July by Cameron to lead an international commission to
investigate global antimicrobial resistance. He predicted,
in a report
released last December, a global death toll of 10 million people
a year by 2050 unless a new generation of drugs is developed.

Analysts are advising doctors to prescribe fewer antibiotics to
their patients, in the hope of keeping at bay certain bugs from
becoming resilient to medication and mutating into superbugs.